Did Oswald Smash his Rifle After the Shooting?

[Bob Prudhomme]

One of the more comical Lame Nut talking points, and one universally accepted by this crowd even though there is not a shred of evidence to support it, is that the reason the scope on the Carcano found on the 6th floor was so badly out of adjustment is that Oswald, in a fit of madness (?), smashed the rifle against a post on the 6th floor just before he hid it.



If this were true, it would only serve to highlight another puzzling thing about the Carcano. When cartridges are loaded into the Carcano magazine, they must be in the en bloc clip that holds them. There is a spring loaded elevator bar that pushes up on the bottom cartridge in the clip, but does not contact the clip itself. When the last cartridge is chambered, there is nothing to hold the clip up and it simply falls out the bottom of the magazine onto the ground.



Should this clip hang up in the magazine, the tiniest of bumps will jar it loose and make it drop out. With all of the handling by the shooter, following the chambering of the fourth and last cartridge, and the handling by the DPD searching for fingerprints, the clip does not fall out, and is not seen until Day is carrying the Carcano on Houston St. Oddly, it still has not fallen to the ground, but can be seen protruding partway out of the magazine.



One would think a blow hard enough to knock the scope out of alignment would have easily jarred the clip loose.







Observe, in this diagram, how the spring loaded elevator bar is lifting on the bottom cartridge, but not the clip, as the elevator bar is actually inside the clip. Once the last cartridge is chambered, the elevator bar is up near the bolt and the clip falls out the opening in the bottom of the magazine.

[Marc Ellis]

One of the more comical Lame Nut talking points, and one universally accepted by this crowd even though there is not a shred of evidence to support it, is that the reason the scope on the Carcano found on the 6th floor was so badly out of adjustment is that Oswald, in a fit of madness (?), smashed the rifle against a post on the 6th floor just before he hid it.



If this were true, it would only serve to highlight another puzzling thing about the Carcano. When cartridges are loaded into the Carcano magazine, they must be in the en bloc clip that holds them. There is a spring loaded elevator bar that pushes up on the bottom cartridge in the clip, but does not contact the clip itself. When the last cartridge is chambered, there is nothing to hold the clip up and it simply falls out the bottom of the magazine onto the ground.



Should this clip hang up in the magazine, the tiniest of bumps will jar it loose and make it drop out. With all of the handling by the shooter, following the chambering of the fourth and last cartridge, and the handling by the DPD searching for fingerprints, the clip does not fall out, and is not seen until Day is carrying the Carcano on Houston St. Oddly, it still has not fallen to the ground, but can be seen protruding partway out of the magazine.



One would think a blow hard enough to knock the scope out of alignment would have easily jarred the clip loose.







Observe, in this diagram, how the spring loaded elevator bar is lifting on the bottom cartridge, but not the clip, as the elevator bar is actually inside the clip. Once the last cartridge is chambered, the elevator bar is up near the bolt and the clip falls out the opening in the bottom of the magazine.

I defer to your knowledge on the weapon. But psychologically and logically, it also makes no sense. If he were truly the lone gunman, he would have just accomplished the most important sniper shots in modern history. At such a moment, why would he lash out in anger at the rifle scope? He hit his target despite it.